Social Scandal. The Stairs

A half-naked (female) body lies battered and defenceless on the floor, apparently after an assault. The body is depicted with thick layers of paint smeared onto the canvas, rendering flesh, skin and blood insistently material. In the background is an open door allowing a view towards the staircase that gave the picture its title. In Freud’s psychoanalysis, which is one of the sources underpinning Wilhelm Freddie’s visual vocabulary, the staircase is seen to symbolise sexual activity. The picture tells of a drama involving sex and violence, one played out behind the polished façade of ‘polite society’. The repressed emotions of the bourgeoisie are part of the central subject matter for Surrealism – a movement to which Freddie remained faithful throughout his life. One of the main devices used by the Surrealists is the clash between different levels of reality. This also holds true in this picture, which was created in collaboration with the artist’s son, the photographer Jørn Freddie. The painterly and the photographic, the abstract and the representational, flat and spatial elements collide in this image, creating its impact (50 Favorites in the SMK Collection).